High speed data communications and the devices that enable such communications have become ubiquitous in modern society. These devices make many users capable of maintaining nearly continuous connectivity to the Internet and other communication networks. Although these high speed data connections are available through telephone lines, cable modems or other such devices that have a physical wired connection, wireless connections have revolutionized our ability to stay connected without sacrificing mobility.
However, in spite of the familiarity that people have with remaining continuously connected to networks while on the ground, people generally understand that easy and/or cheap connectivity will tend to stop once an aircraft is boarded. Aviation platforms have still not become easily and cheaply connected to communication networks, at least for the passengers onboard. Attempts to stay connected in the air are typically costly and have bandwidth limitations or high latency problems. Networks will undoubtedly be built to provide passengers with connectivity in the air that is similar to the connectivity they enjoy on the ground. However, building an air to ground (ATG) network necessarily means that some unique problems will be encountered that are simply not an issue for conventional terrestrial networks. For example, in terrestrial 3GPP standard networks, at the time a terminal attaches to a network, it will select a serving cell based on the best available base station. A specific serving gateway (SGW) is assigned, generally based on network topology. The SGW connects to a packet data network gateway (PGW) and the terminal becomes “homed” and “anchored” to the assigned PGW. All user data originating from the terminal or destined for the terminal are transmitted through the assigned PGW for as long as the terminal remains attached to the network. The IP address of the terminal is associated with that PGW until the terminal detaches from the network.
As the terminal travels across the network, it may handover between different cells generally based on signal strength. The cell site handover may also trigger a handover to a different SGW when the terminal moves out of current SGW service area. However, the PGW to which the terminal is “homed” and “anchored” does not change. As a result, end-user data from the terminal to the Internet always departs the network through the “home” PGW and data destined for the end user always knows how to “find” the terminal through the terminal's association with the PGW. This works fine for the typical terrestrial network user, who generally stays in a relatively small geographic area. However, when the terminal travels across great geographic distances, the data between the terminal and the assigned PGW will be transmitted back and forth over a long distance, which introduces round-trip latency with potential negative impact on user-experience. Meanwhile, if the terminal should attempt to change its “homed” PGW and get a new IP address during the process, all established connections based on source and destination IP addresses between the terminal and its service providers will be disconnected.